Fall 2018 NEWSLETTER of the Mozart Society of America
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Volume 22, Number 2 fall 2018 NEWSLETTER OF THE Mozart Society of America Inside this Issue: “Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart,” by Paul Corneilson . 1 “Mozart’s Turkish Tattoo: Hybridity in Die Entführung Announcements . 2 aus dem Serail,” by Adem Merter Birson . 7 Report: MSA Panel at the Mostly Mozart Festival . 3 Reviews: Mozart 225: The New Complete Edition Introducing Alyson McLamore, Treasurer, Private Music, Fragments, Arrangements, and and Samuel Breene, Secretary . 3 Doubtful Works, reviewed by Murl Sickbert . 12 Postcards and Posters by Mark Podwal . 4 Italian Operas, reviewed by John Platoff . 13 Reflections on Mozart Communities Event and German Operas, reviewed by Lisa de Alwis . 14 the Opening of Mozartwoche, January 2018, Chamber Music, reviewed by Edward Klorman . 15 by Laurel E . Zeiss . 5 Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart in germania e amadeo Mozart in italia” (MBA, vol . 1, 342), which suggests that Italians preferred Amadeo to Wolfgang Paul Corneilson (see the letter to Padre Martini of September 4, 1776; MBA, vol . 1, 533) . The first biography of Mozart by Franz Xaver Niemetschek, The first letter to his father from Wasserburg, on Septem- originally published in 1798, gives the composer’s name as ber 23, 1777, is signed “Wolfgang Amadé Mozart” (MBA, “Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart” on its title page . When the sec- vol . 2, 7), which seems significant as this was the first time ond edition was published in 1808, the name was changed the two of them were separated . Many letters from Munich, to “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” without further comment . Augsburg, Mannheim, and Paris in 1777–78 are signed with Why? Georg Niklaus Nissen used “W .A . Mozart” on the title “Amadé” as the middle name, but others use his initials “W: page of his biography (1828), and since the biography was A: Mozart ”. (Leopold also tends to address the letters to completed by his widow Constanze Mozart, this form of his “Wolfgang Amadé Mozart ”). But there are also letters signed name was authorized by someone who wanted to preserve “Wolfgang Amadè Mozart” (e .g ., MBA, vol . 2, 121) or “Wolf- his heritage . gang Amade Mozart” (e .g ., MBA, vol . 2, 179), and a few are Mozart’s birth certificate bears the Greek form of the name, signed “Wolfgang gottlieb Mozart” (e .g ., MBA, vol . 2, 126) . “Theophilus,” meaning “beloved by God,” and this of course I could not find any with “Amadeus” from this period, and is what the German (Gottlieb) and Latin (Amadeus) names indeed, this would have seemed a little recherché for a young mean as well . The first letter that survives by Mozart (to an man writing mostly to his father and sister . Some of the let- unknown girl) from 1769 is signed simply “Wolfgang Mo- ters written from Munich in 1780–81 have abbreviated sig- zart” (MBA, vol . 1, 290), as are most of the letters written to natures, like “Wolf Am: Mozart” (MBA, vol . 3, 21), perhaps his sister from Italy (e .g ., Verona, January 7, 1770; MBA, vol . 1, because he was busy writing Idomeneo . My sense is that he 301) . Occasionally, he uses only “Wolfgang” (e .g ., MBA, vol . 1, favored “Amadè” to “Amadé” for his middle name, though I 432) . His young English friend Thomas Linley addressed him have not counted all the instances . as “Amadeo Wolfgango Mozart” on April 6, 1770 (MBA, vol . Soon after settling in Vienna in 1781, he seems to have set- 1, 332), and Wolfgang signed his name this way in his letter to tled on “W . A . Mozart” (or “W: A:”) when writing to his fa- Linley on September 10, 1770 (MBA, vol . 1, 389) . From Rome, ther, and after marrying Constanze in August 1782, he often on April 25, 1770, he playfully wrote to his sister: “Wolfgango included her initials as well . In his last years, when writing to continued on page 2 Newsletter of the Mozart Society of America Announcements Volume 22, Number 2 Fall 2018 ISSN: 1527-3733 A Note from the Editor The Newsletter is published twice yearly (spring and fall) by the Mozart Society of America . Guidelines As many members already know, I am handing down the ed- for submission are posted on the website: itorship of the Newsletter to our current reviews editor, Emily www .mozartsocietyofamerica .org . Wuchner, whose term will begin with the spring 2019 issue . Editor: Christopher Lynch This was my first experience as an editor, and these last three lynchchristop@gmail .com years have been a wonderful journey . I am especially grateful to Paul Corneilson, Bruce Brown, and all of the members of Associate Editor: Emily Wuchner wuchner2@illinois .edu the Publications Committee for their guidance . Serving as editor has been the most meaningful experience of my early Designed by Dean Bornstein career, not only because of all I have learned, but also because Mozart Society of America of the many friends I have made . I look forward to working c/o Alyson McLamore with the Society in new ways in the years to come . 708 Avenida de Diamante —Christopher Lynch Arroyo Grande, CA 93420 MSA Business Meeting and Study Session friends, he signed his surname only (e .g ., MBA, vol . 4, 11 and The annual business meeting of the Mozart Society of Amer- 70), but to his wife he almost always included an endearment . ica will take place during the American Musicological Soci- In one of his last official letters, written to the Magistrate of ety conference in San Antonio, Texas, on Friday, November 2, the city of Vienna in May 1791 asking to be considered to from 8:00 to 11:00 pm in the Grand Hyatt Hotel . (The room replace Kapellmeister Hofmann at St . Stephen’s should he location will be announced later when it is assigned .) The not recover from his illness, he signed his name “Wolfgang study session will include a screening of the filmFrom Mao to Amadé Mozart” (MBA, vol . 4, 131) . (Michael Lorenz has Mozart, directed by Murray Lerner, which won an Academy shown that some of the official documents from Vienna use Award in 1981 for best documentary film . After the film (84 “von” to indicate his appointment as a Knight of the Golden minutes), which is about Isaac Stern’s visits to China in 1979 Spur .) and his work to bring the music of Mozart to that nation (at Interestingly, in her appeal to Leopold II for a pension on the time much secluded from the West), there will be time for December 11, 1791, Constanze refers to her recently deceased discussion . Please invite your colleagues and graduate stu- husband as “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” (MBA, vol . 4, 177) . dents to join us for this beautiful film . Many of his late publications, including the “Haydn” Quar- tets, Op . 10, are signed simply “W .A . Mozart,” and many of the early first editions also use this abbreviated form of his Renewal Reminder name . But Breitkopf & Härtel’s Oeuvres Complettes (begun ca . 1800) gives the name as “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” (in If you have not already renewed your membership for 2018– italic lettering), and throughout the rest of the nineteenth and 19, please do so . You can find the membership form on the twentieth centuries we have come to know him as “Wolfgang MSA website, along with calls for papers and information on Amadeus ”. The Latin form of his middle name emphasizes other Mozart topics . Thank you for your continuing support . the classical and god-like qualities in Mozart’s music . Thus, Peter Schaffer’s play is titled Amadeus to emphasize God’s fa- voritism toward Mozart from the perspective of the fictional Salieri’s eyes . But Mozart himself must have preferred the Italianate form of his middle name to the German Gottlieb, which is clear even from this unscientific survey . As Shake- speare said, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet ”. 2 MSA Panel at the Mostly Mozart Festival For the sixth consecutive year, MSA held a panel discussion in association with Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City . It took place Sunday afternoon, July 29, at the Stanley H . Kaplan Penthouse . Audience members, seated at circular tables, participated in the question-and-answer period that followed the presentations . The number of people in attendance increases yearly in size and enthusiasm . This year’s topic was “Mozart the Maverick,” with Bruce Alan Brown ably serving as moderator . Edmund J . Goeh- ring began with “The ‘New Rule’ of Genius: Mozart at the Boundaries of Originality and Tradition ”. Edward Klorman followed with “A Sociable Virtuosity? Challenge and Com- plexity in Mozart’s Music of Friends ”. Laurel E . Zeiss con- cluded with “Mozart the Maverick? Mozart the Competitor? Or Mozart Purveyor of Grace?” It was especially beneficial Moderator Bruce Brown introduces panelists Edmund Goehring, that participants included in their discussions works per- Laurel E . Zeiss, and Edward Klorman at the Mostly Mozart Festival formed at the Festival, for example, Mozart’s String Quintet in G Minor, K . 516, and the composer’s Symphony in D Ma- jor, K . 504 (“Prague”) . —Suzanne Forsberg Introducing Alyson McLamore, Treasurer, and for the US Academic Decathlon, and writes program notes Samuel Breene, Secretary for the San Luis Obispo Festival Mozaic (formerly the Mozart Festival), the San Luis Obispo Master Chorale, and the San Luis Obispo Symphony . After completing four degrees at UCLA—including a master’s thesis on Violinist and historian Samuel Breene Andrew Lloyd Webber and a doctoral is an active recitalist and chamber mu- dissertation on eighteenth-century sician, having studied at the Johannes London concert life (supported by a Gutenberg University in Mainz, Ger- grant from the Fulbright Commis- many, and at Duke University, where he sion)—Alyson McLamore has contin- received an AM in performance prac- ued to explore music of both the past tice and a PhD in historical musicology .